Lennon: There’s no complacency as gap hits 10

Neil Lennon has brushed off suggestions that complacency is now Celtic’s greatest enemy, insisting his hungry squad is looking to stretch its 10-point lead as it marches towards another title.

The Hoops took full advantage of Rangers’s slip-up at Kilmarnock on Wednesday night with a 5-0 pasting of Hearts to put them firmly on course for nine-in-a-row.

But even with such a healthy lead, the Northern Irishman says there is little chance his team will be happy to cruise towards the finish line.

“Are the boys going to get complacent?” he asked. “I doubt it very much.

“They will maybe want to try to increase the lead if they can. I think that’s the mode of thinking here – no complacency, don’t take anything for granted. You’re fresh, you’re fit, you look hungry, let’s stay that way.”

Parkhead erupted with joy when news of Killie’s late winner filtered its way up the M77 from Rugby Park.

Lennon refused to lend his voice to those celebrations, quickly making it clear after the Jambos dismantling that there is work to be done for his side to see off Steven Gerrard’s Rangers team and clinch another crown.

It is the same kind of level-headed thinking that saw the Celtic boss refuse to over-react when his side was stunned at home by Rangers in the final game before the winter break.

But he admits it does help having perennial winners such as skipper Scott Brown, Callum McGregor and James Forrest in the dressing room to ensure eyes do not wander off the prize as the season progresses. The Parkhead manager added: “It’s about keeping an even keel because there will be peaks and troughs as they go along.

“There’s more difficult games to come and then we’ve got the split, so there’s a lot of football still to go.

“To continue winning year after year is a hard habit to develop with people asking questions of you all the time.”

Celtic’s Neil Lennon